Distorted Hope: Forgotten Souls
by Yokaze no Akuma
Summary: A little girl is found washed up on the shores of the naval base of Yokosuka. She is taken in by the inhabiting kanmusus and learns about the war against the abyssals. Then, unexplained forces, with advanced technology than both humans and abyssals started appearing. But that's not all, the girl seems to be gifted with powers, that no one can ever imagine.
1. Prologue: Storm

To keep things short- it was raining. Raindrops relentlessly batter the land, showing no end to its endeavor of saturating the earth, and the trees that were planted in it. It was sunrise and Yamato was quite down as she wouldn't be able to see the sun as it slowly rises up, gracing the sky with different, burnished colors- she knew it was the clouds' fault. The blatant booming thunder could be heard miles away, along with the roaring sound of the strong winds. Yamato took a sip of her tea, as the pitter-patter of the rain beating against her window was heard.

She was alone in her orderly room, which seemed to glisten and shine under the light of the chandelier- the only thing the kept the room lit. The room was very massive and glamorous, with a high ceiling, gorgeous decor that came from foreign countries and polished marble walls. The wooden floorboards, the only thing that seemed to ruin the perfection; were lustrous and clean, and also sparkling, like some precious gem- though they may look precisely spotless and new, they were quite old; you could hear the creaks of the panels with each light, careful steps and see the barely noticeable cracks and gaps. A king-sized bed was placed in the middle of the wall furthest from the tall windows; heavenly comfortable, with golden trimmed duvet covers, and foam pillows. It was more like a hotel than a normal dorm room. Her room was located on the top floor of the dorm that was nearest of the ocean- but it was still pretty far away. Yamato looked out the window and saw the murky waves crashing onto the shore in a powerful force- it would have been nice to go for a walk, but the rain had beat her to it.

Yamato was curled in a comfortable position in her arm chair, a large, leather-bound book placed on her lap. It was old; maybe decades old, with a charred, worn-out cover, cracked spine, and torn pages. You could barely make out the illustration on the front cover, and the title, but thanks to the information Hachi had provided her, Yamato knew what they were: **The Flowers Shall Wither** , with a wilting blue hibiscus as the illustration; though both had something to do with flowers, it wasn't a book about plants, it was more like a book about death and a little girl surviving some war. Upon opening the book, she was greeted by a wave of sadness as she read the first page of the book- the death of the protagonist's mother. She didn't notice time pass by as she read the book, she was captivated, interested of the book's plot. A couple of hours later, she looked out the window to check how the weather was now, but to Yamato's surprise, the rain hadn't sighed and closed the book, taking another sip of the black tea that a certain battlecruiser had given her the day before. She sat there quietly, staring at the clock hanging on the wall in front of her; then, she heard light footsteps approaching her. "Hmm? who could that be?"

The door burst open, revealing Fubuki, a ship girl who was plain and normal as heck, standing in the doorway. Her hair and clothes were soaked, it seemed that the yellow raincoat she had worn had proved to have did a horrible job of protecting the destroyer from the weather; water dripped down from it and began creating a small puddle underneath Fubuki. She was puffing, and her eyes were wide open as if she saw something shocking. "Yamato-San!, I...need your...help!" Fubuki panted.

Yamato approached the panicking destroyer. "What is it, Fubuki-Chan?". Fubuki grabbed Yamato's hand without saying another word, and began dragging her down the hall. Fubuki did not care about the pairs of eyes that watched her, as she continued dragging Yamato, nor did she care about the audible whispers coming from passersby. "W-what are you doing, Fubuki-chan!?" Yamato demanded, trying to get Fubuki to release her grip; but to no avail. Fubuki was ignoring Yamato and was concentrating on moving on forward without stopping. To Yamato, it was quite strange, that someone like Fubuki; who was mostly cheerful and determined from time to time, looking scared and panicked, but was more strange that Fubuki- a single destroyer; was capable of hauling Yamato- The biggest battleship to have ever been constructed, without any help.

They soon arrived on the first floor, coming to an abrupt stop in front of the huge double door that would lead them outside. "Fubuki, please tell me what's going on?" Fubuki was still ignoring her. She pushed opened the door, and they were both greeted by the strong power of the wind. Fubuki loosened her grasp from Yamato's hand and ran outside- towards the ocean. "Hey! Fubuki, wait!" Yamato soon followed Fubuki outside, and as she stepped out and closed the doors, the top of her head, and parts of her clothes were already soaking wet. The trees were forced to be blown to the side, proven to be weak against the power growing currents of the wind. She blocked her face with her arms to be able to see better, as the rain poured down heavily from the vast grey space above her like gunfire- though it was barely working. Yamato caught a glimpse of yellow, and she realized it was Fubuki.

"Ugh...can't see..." Suddenly, Yamato felt two pairs of hands grabbing both of her hands and began dragging her. She opened her eyes and saw Yuudachi and Mutsuki guiding her through the tough weather. "Wheres Fubuki-Chan!?" Yamato yelled.

"She's on the shore, poi!" Yuudachi yelled back, shielding her eyes from the wind and rain. "We don't know what she's doing, but earlier, she came to us before she came to you, asking for help!" Yuudachi's voice was slowly drowned out by the roaring sound of the wind, and the booming of rumbling thunder. A moment later, a yellow streak appeared up in the sky, followed by a loud boom. Surprised by the object, Yamato quickly closed her eyes once more.

"We need to hurry! Or else we're gonna be struck by lighting!" Mutsuki shouted. "There she is!" Though she couldn't see, Yamato could tell that they had arrived near the shore, a safe distance from the large rolling waves of the ocean. She took a tiny peek of her surroundings, and saw- though was blurry; Fubuki close to the sandy shoreline, carrying something on her back. More lightning bolt flashed in the sky, adding a more dramatic effect to the situation. Noticing that Fubuki was about to collapse under the weight of the thing she was carrying, Yamato, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki quickly rushed towards Fubuki's side. The two destroyers flanked her, as Yamato picked up the 'thing' that was on Fubuki's back; she immediately realized that the 'thing' was a human girl, that looked like she was barely even 10, frail and helpless like a lamb.

The girl had matted, unkempt black hair, bags were under her eyes, implying that it was far long that the girl had any good night's sleep and there were blood and slash mark on her pale body. She was malnourished, Yamato noted, seeing how thin the girl was. The clothes the girl wore were a tattered white hoodie that sported a yin-yang symbol on the front, near the left breast, a blue scarf that reached down to her knees, wrapped twice around her neck, and a black skirt, faded in color; they had one thing common with each other and that was that both were torn and worn out, falling apart at any minute. But against the harsh conditions, the clothes were doing a fine job of sheltering the wearer from the rain.

"What happened to her, Fubuki-Chan!?" Yamato shouted. "Was she attacked by abyssals?!" No answer, no confirmation of the pitiful fate of the poor girl. "Fubuki!" The destroyer was completely ignoring her, or more like couldn't hear due to the sudden pressure of the wind getting stronger, infiltrating her hearing and making it, along with the rumbling noises and splashing of rain, the only thing to be heard. It was getting darker- the night was falling. But through the extreme conditions, they managed to find the dorm house- a black shape looming in the distance, light seeping out the windows, illuminating the darkness of the outdoors. They rushed towards the building, and burst through the doors with a vigorous force.

"Eh? Yamato, Fubuki, Yuudachi, Mutsuki? What were you guys doing outside?" A familiar voice made itself heard. Yamato looked up, her purple eyes meeting red ones. "Musashi? Oh...um..." Musashi's gaze drifted from Yamato, to the unconscious human girl laying in Yamato's arms.

Musashi narrowed her eyes. "Is that a human?" She asked, to which Yamato responded with a simple nod. "What was it doing outside?"

"We don't know, but I think she may have been washed up a shore, as we found her near the waters" Fubuki spoke for the rest of them. "Um..is it ok, Mushashi-san, if we can-"

"Take care of her for now?" Musashi interrupted. "I'm afraid I don't know, you could go ask Admiral, but she's busy doing paperwork right now, it's best that we don't disturb her". Silence soon fell upon them, the atmosphere around them was both awkward and tense. But the silence did not last long, as the girl, Yamato held began to stir. "Is she waking up?"

"She looks kinda adorable in her sleep, poi" Yuudachi said. "Should we get her to bed?"

"Yes, that'll do" Yamato replied. "Fubuki-chan, Mutsuki-chan, is there a free space in your room?"

Mutsuki shook her head. "No, we don't but there's a vacant room beside ours, it's kinda like a storage room for our floor-oh! there's a bed too, so it's probably the best choice for now" Thanking the destroyer for the hospitality, she goes off, but before she could reach halfway down the hall, Musashi's voice perked up, grabbing her attention.

"What are you gonna say to admiral?"

Yamato turned towards her, and smiled. "I'll just tell her all about it.

"And what if she might get angry?" Musashi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't worry about it, we all know admiral is a nice woman" Yamato reassured.

"I know"

The girl felt numb; every inch of her body felt broken, aching with pain. Her mind was screaming for her to move, but her body refused to move. It was comfortable, despite the pain that overwhelmed her; the object she was laying on. She stayed there and continued to enjoy the moment of ecstasy. She wanted to go back to sleep, but something the was lurking in her mind forbade her to- she wanted to know where she was.

The girl began tugging on the thing that was covering her, shielding her from the cold. She opened her eyes and was able to finally see what was covering her- a thick, heavy blanket. It was colored light red, a much different contrast of red that she was familiar with; a color that reminded her the many deaths she had seen.

Her train of thought was broken when she heard chirping noises, and on instinct turned her head towards the direction where the sound came from. She took a little peek and saw a tiny black bird hopping on the sill of the window near her. That's when she realized she was in a room. It was filled with various objects; art equipment, posters, figurines...miniature torpedoes? The room was basically covered in random items, some piled up in a huge heap, hiding the wooden brown color of the floor. Along with the sight, came a smell, foreign for her nose; it was a complete difference to the salty smell of the ocean that she was used to. The room, hammered an image in the girl's mind- home, something she wanted, yearning for its warmth, and finally escaping the institute; a bloody, dark abyss, she once called 'home'.

Looking down at her body, only did the girl saw that she was covered in clean bandages, and her wounds were treated- no signs of any blood what so ever. Instead of her original clothes, she wore a plain white t-shirt that was too big for her and hung loosely down near her knees and black shorts. Her other clothes were all fixed and stitched back to their genuine form, neatly folded and placed on an old, rickety wooden chair that sat in the far left corner of the room- She would have to thank whoever fixed her clothes later.

She looked to the side, towards the open window, and saw the bird no longer there. Wanting to see the bird was nearby, she forced her body to get up, ignoring the submerging pain that; once again, deluged her. With one final push, she managed to lift the blanket off her, and get out the soft bed, only to tumble down to the floor as her legs were too weak, finally responding to its current condition. The girl dragged herself towards the window using her arms as her only transport; it was hard, and the pain seemed to grow intense, but she didn't mind- she was used to it. The girl managed to reach the window sill without passing out from the torment, a huge accomplishment for an injured 7-year old. She pushed herself up using the window sill, and she finally got a good look of outside.

There were many girls; no men at all, walking about with smiles on their faces. Some were categorized into little groups and were chatting with each other. The environment that she was seeing was something she only heard from the people in the institute. The sky, colored in a lighter shade of blue than the one that she was used to, stretched out for infinity over her head, with thin wispy clouds smothered all over it; it was nice to see something different other than the dark sky that loomed upon her every day in the institute. Then there was the tree, a canopy filled with brightly pink flowers; it was the only tree she could see around. The girl stood there, gaping, captivated by its natural beauty; she noticed the little black bird hopping side-to-side playfully on one of the branches as if to say to come out and play. Upon further inspection, she realized the bird looked quite strange, with only one single eye like a cyclops, it's iris colored a deep shade of purple with a black pupil, and bits of its feathers stuck out into clumps as if it had been in a long struggle. The bird stopped, and cocked its head to the side, looking confused as fuck like me in a school test- hmmm? sorry, what was that? Anyways, the girl watched, as the bird flew to the left, towards the series of structures that occupied the place.

A slight breeze rolled into the window and brushed her face, bringing along the smell of the salty sea. It tickled her nose, and before she knew it, she felt an itchy sensation coming from her nose- she realized she was about to sneeze. She fought back the urge to sneeze; but much to her dismay, she failed and fell back to the floor with a loud thud. The girl pouted, unknowingly that the sneeze echoed around the building she was in and attracted attentions of 4 other girls. Muffled voices, followed by the sound of footsteps and the floorboards creaking were heard, approaching the girl quickly.

"She's finally awake, poi!"

"Hey! Yuudachi-chan, you're gonna bump into Yamato-san!"

"Oof!"

"Too late"

 _Creak,_ step, **pause-** The footsteps came to a stop in front of the door.

A moment later, the door opened, and in came a girl with straight blonde hair with a black ribbon tied on top, and probably the greenest eyes the little girl had ever seen. She stared into the girl's eyes, and started blinking; the girl giggled in a response to her cute reaction. More people came in, all three of them being female. Two of them was just about the same height as the blondie, whilst the other was a tall, voluptuous woman that had like a 'big sister' kinda aura.

"She's adorable!" One of the short ones squeaked, her eyes nothing but sparkles. The little girl flinched at the other girl's reaction and her cheeks starting to flush.

"Fubuki-chan, I think you're scaring her..." The girl with gleaming eyes- Fubuki, from what the little girl heard the other short girl mentioned, was her name.

"Ahh, sorry" 'Fubuki' apologized. The tall woman stepped up in front of 'Fubuki' and the other two girls. The little girl whimpered, seeing the massive figure of the woman towering over her- like Godzilla. She quickly backed away and eventually stopped as she banged herself against the wall. The little girl hissed, feeling the pain again.

"Oh my, are you ok?" The woman crouched down to the little girl's level and started stroking her extensive brush of black hair in an attempt to calm her down.

"My name is Yamato" Yamato introduced herself, getting into a more comfortable sitting position. She pointed towards the blondie. "That's Yuudachi"

"Hello! Sorry for scaring you, poi!" Yuudachi smiled and waved at the little girl.

Yamato pointed towards Fubuki. "This is Fubuki" The sparkles in Fubuki's eyes had not died down yet.

"And this is Mutsuki" The last girl simply smiled in response. "Now that you know our name, is it ok if you can tell us your name?"

The little girl looked at Yamato, a puzzled look settling onto her face. A name...she mulls at the thought- what was her name? did she even have a name? Then, something came into her mind; the name the people in the institute kept on calling her, both the white coats and the Origins.

"Des...tiny..." The now-named Destiny responded, a smile stretching across her face.

 **(A/N):Soooo, for any casual readers of mine, I'm not discontinuing 'The Flames Will Be Our Savior'.This fanfiction, I might set a dark tone, and might contain lots of 'sinking'. Next chapter, I might explain where Destiny comes from, or how she got that name, but** **idk** **yet.**

 **After I post this chapter, the next one that I will post will be The Flames Will Be Our Savior; and also, I'm gonna have a week break in writing cause' I have this dumb project that I have to finish 2 weeks time.**

 **Don't forget to leave honest** **feedback,** **and constructive reviews.**


	2. 1: Moving Shadows-PART 1

Destiny reached out towards the chair and seized her patched up jacket. She quickly threw it on; and as she managed to get her hands through the long sleeves, her eyes darted around the room to check if anyone was there, watching her- good thing no one wasn't. Destiny lastly grasped her scarf and wrapped it around her neck twice. The scarf was quite big for her and enveloped her nose- there was a scent emanating from it that was foreign to Destiny's nose. Prepping herself to go outside, she took deep breaths told herself that she could do it. She crept over to the door, trying to avoid making any noise that would alert nearby awareness and stood on the tips of her toes to reach the doorknob. Destiny clutched it, twisted it slowly and the door opened with a creak. She poked her head and was quite surprised.

The halls were blanketed by a thin sheet of light that seeped through a few of open windows. There were cracks and cobwebs everywhere; up on the ceiling and on the cold, wooden floor, implying that the building was an old structure. The stench of gunpowder and mildew lingered in the air- and to Destiny, the mix of both scents was revolting. It was unbelievably quiet- quite suspicious to Destiny to say the least; The only thing that could be heard was a grandfather clock ticking away nearby. No one was present on Destiny's vision, walking up and down through the halls- it was all barren. Strange- the word had struck her thoughts- she remembered hearing chatting and multiple footsteps through the walls not long ago, It was if the place was deserted, the inhabitants stripped out of they occupation, but why?

Destiny pushed the door forcefully and it swung towards the wall; it narrowly missed banging on it. She stepped into the hall and was greeted with a sense of dread. The most logical thing to do first was to investigate the halls and the rooms to check if anyone was there- but Destiny decided to check the towering grandfather clock down left of the hall to learn the time. It was 8:01 AM, usually at that time in the Institute, the children would be led to the mess hall to eat breakfast- maybe it was the same for the building's inhabitants- maybe there were still people there.

Deciding to further her investigation, Destiny ran back to the room to gather some items that would or could help. It would be troublesome though, as the room was filled with junk that with just a look, it proved to be quite...well, useless. She began digging through an enormous pile of severed power tools; which was the closest to the door- and managed to find a screwdriver that was- thankfully- still intact. Putting the screwdriver into her pocket, Destiny continues scavenging the packed room. Despite being filled with random items and ineffective miscellaneous, there were things there that were considerably beneficial for Destiny. A moment later, she finally completed seeking items from the room and was determined to venture out onto the open. In her pocket, securely stashed and hidden away, were 5 items; the screwdriver, a pocket knife, a small torch, a map of the whole entire location which was conveniently situated on a bed stand beside the bed and a roll of gauze bandages just in case she had gained an injury- an addition to her wounds. Whatever the screwdriver was for, it could be a fine item to use other than opening screwed in vents and coverings. She headed outside the room again, but instead of going left like earlier, she traveled right.

Now, why did Destiny wanted to go outside? Couldn't she just stay in that room? The reason was that she wanted to go find Yamato and the others and to ask them where she was and what was going on- it had been 2-3 hours since they left to do something and they promised to come back an hour later with food. There was another thing as well and that she was positively curious about what was outside the room- Being a 7-yr old child and all, she was quite adventurous.

Destiny passed by numerous doors; some with signs hanging on the front, with people's names sketched onto them. She settled her hands inside her pockets and started fiddling with the pocket knife. The silence lingered for so long, and Destiny didn't like it- it just seemed too unsettling. With every sound the creaking floorboards made, her fears grew even more. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins like a sailfish through water and a dribble of sweat trickled down her delicate cheeks. Her mind was screaming for her to hurry and run, but she was stuck walking as a means for moving. It felt like there was someone or something trailing her, watching her like a vulture eyeing its next prey. Destiny finally reached the flight of stairs that would soon lead her down to the ground floor of the structure. As she placed a foot on of the steps, she could hear incoherent voices from nearby.

Destiny's face lit up. She hurriedly goes down the stairs and arrives at the ground floor, panting profusely. At the other end of the hall, Destiny saw someone exiting through huge double doors; a curvaceous figure with dark skin, a lock of the individual's light blonde hair was the last thing Destiny perceived before they shut the door close. Destiny rushed for the door, ignoring the sudden dread that came earlier, running past more entrances. She arrived in front of the large door and threw herself against it. It opened, and Destiny was greeted by a warm, gentle breeze that brushed her face. The burst of sunlight had blinded her; she had already grown accustomed to the darkness of the dimly-lit room- but even though she was half-blind, she could still clearly see the striking environment that surrounded her.

Above her, the sky was colored a light blue; the sun shone proudly overhead her and tinted the clouds that were smothered on the blue space above a pale yellowish color with a slight bit of pink- it still looked like before, when she looked out the window earlier. To her right was the ocean, a darker variation of color than the sky; its different sized waves crashing extensively at the nearby shore. Looming over the horizon were dark clouds, Destiny saw lightning crackle over there now and then, and was quite glad that she was in a good distance from it. Although the scenic view was quite nice and spectacular, what fully caught Destiny's attention were the many structures constructed everywhere from what Destiny could see. Built in different sizes, big and small, some looking the same, whilst some looked different. The view was quite amazing for Destiny, who haven't seen something like it before. Her eyes were wide open, sparkling like Fubuki's own earlier. But the moment hadn't lasted forever, as Destiny realized that the figure had disappeared-

 _ **Growl**_

Destiny patted her tummy and sighed. She yanked out the map and started examining it to see if there was a place there that had food, specifically one that had udon noodles. Thankfully there was, and it was also positively close to Destiny- she would have to head down towards her left, down the streets lined with buildings and away from the ocean, and the place should be there.

"Oh my, There's a kid here" A voice made itself heard, coming from the direction where the waters were. A second later, Destiny heard the clicking of boots thumping on the hard concrete, and a dark silhouette overlooked her. "Ara~ are you perhaps a new kanmusu?" The figure's face neared, and Destiny could now clearly see the figure's features. They looked like a young woman in their early 20s, with short brown hair and green eyes. She was a well-proportioned individual, with curves and bends in all the right places- Destiny was starting to wonder if all the inhabitants of the area had such frame, with the exception of Fubuki, Yuudachi, and Mutsuki of course.

The woman bent down and offered Destiny her gloved hand. "My name is Mutsu, what's your's?". Destiny didn't respond, too mesmerized by the vibrant emerald eyes that locked onto her own blue ones. She immediately snapped out of her trance as she barely noticed the puzzled look on Mutsu's face. Destiny managed to maintain eye contract without looking away and returned the gesture.

"You must be a quiet one, huh?" Mutsu giggled. The towering woman straightened up and looked down at Destiny. "Strange, Admiral didn't say anything to us about a new girl arriving..." She placed one of her arms under her chest, her hand plopped between her other arm. She stroked her chin with her other hand as her brows furrowed. To Destiny, she looked she was in deep though, mulling about something; but that moment hadn't lasted long as Destiny expected as-

 _ **Grooowl**_

Her stomach growled again, even louder than last time. Mutsu spilt apart from her train of thought and stared blankly at Destiny. Destiny rubbed her belly, her expression scrunched into a cute pout. Mutsu giggled, a reaction Destiny hadn't really expected.

"Ara, you must be hungry" Mutsu picked up Destiny and brought the little girl up to about her eye level. "Let's go to Mamiya, shall we?" Mutsu smiled, and Destiny was blinded by a ray of light which seemed to have radiated from the smile.

Mutsu delicately lowered Destiny to the ground. She extended her hand towards Destiny, and Destiny reached out and grabbed it.

Mutsu started walking, and Destiny followed suit. Majestic, yet she walked in great strides; Mutsu tried her best to match the pace of Destiny- Though Destiny was struggling to keep up with her.

The path they passed by was like a whole new world to Destiny, buildings stretching out for infinity towards her- buildings that were a whole different to the obscure institute; Canopies of large trees with pink flowers outlined the street, its petals falling down like raindrops. On closer inspection, They both turned into a corner, where Destiny finally saw the other occupants, walking up and down through the cobblestone path.

At the end of the path was a large, circular area, filled with various vegetation; and in the middle was a tall fountain, built on some slate cobblestone circle planted on the ground. Others were walking or running around the place, hurrying to get to somewhere, whilst some sat under the shade, on benches or on the grass, enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.

"Ah, it's so busy" Mutsu sighed; she looked back at Destiny, who was marveling at the sight. "I forgot that the Americans are coming, and mostly everyone is preparing for their arrival" they continued to walk in silence, towards the crowded space; well not entirely silent, as Mutsu was humming.

"Oi, Mutsu!" Came a voice. Destiny looked up, and saw a young woman, with purple hair and yellow eyes; one eye was capped by a cool-looking eye patch, approaching them, followed by four more individuals. "I was looking for ya for forever!"

"Hm? Oh, Tenryuu, what is it?" Mutsu asked. Destiny gazed at the woman known as Tenryuu; and immediately flinched back and hid behind Mutsu, as Tenryuu bent down and glared at her. Tenryuu was surprised at the reaction; her expression changed quickly, seeing the little girl cowering behind Mutsu.

"H-hey, I'm not that scary, see?" Tenryuu pulled off a funny face, only to be feared by Destiny even more. She shrank back and hid her face from Tenryuu; Mutsu merely giggled at the little girl's reaction. She tried encouraging Destiny to get out of hiding, but it seemed like she refused to

The latter was frantically looking for a way to get Destiny out of hiding, too busy to even take notice of a certain Russian-speaking ship girl approaching Destiny.

Destiny slowly peeked out from her hiding spot, a girl barely taller than her bent down to just about her height. The sunlight shone down upon her, lighting the girl's disheveled, bleached hair in a yellow hue. The girl gave a smile, reaching out towards Destiny with an extended hand and petted her head. Destiny felt herself color, and once again hid her face from all eyes.

"Ah, it'll take a long time for her to get used to us, she's only little, and she'll get overwhelmed with many people surrounding her" Mutsu giggled as she scratched her cheeks awkwardly.

* * *

The woman startled awake from deep sleep. Her eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to get accustomed to the daylight that lightened her dim office. She extended her arms over her head and gave a yawn. Her arms have away support and landed on the piles of paper on her desk with a heavy thud. The paperwork under the woman's arms was mostly incomplete- some she hadn't even touched yet; if she didn't finish it now, she would be in a whole heap of trouble- or even worse, she would be kicked out of her rank and forced to become an Ensign again- or at least that was what the Nagato had told her; rumours traveled very swiftly around the base, and it was all thanks to Aoba, being able to run around the base in a speed that could even rival Shimakaze's own, and tell everyone the juiciest gossip and secrets.

The woman grabbed the paper that was closest to her- a report of some kind, her other hand going everywhere around her table in search of her glasses. The woman was puzzled, she remembered putting her glasses on top of the table, beside her table lamp- but now it was gone.

 **"Oh, can I borrow your glasses, admiral? My one broke, thanks to Kongou-Onee-Sama** **and Akashi needs to fix it"**

 **"Sure, Kirishima, remember to bring it back to me** **tomorrow before 9:00** **"**

 **"Yes, thank you"**

The woman groaned, realizing that she had lent her only pair of glasses- .pair. She glanced at the clock beside her and barely managed to read the time. It was currently 8:59, by now, Kirishima should burst through-

 **BANG**

Oh wait, it's not her

Second of the Kongou-class battlecruisers. Hiei, stood in front of the doorway, pnating loudly. Clutched in her hand were her glasses, or what were the remains of her glasses, from the looks of it- nothing but a chipped temple, with a cracked lens connected to it. Hiei held up the glasses, a victorious smile taking shape, but it shortly changed as she finally observed that the glasses were not exactly intact.

The woman shook her head as she fully grasp on her current situation. She slowly sat upright on her chair and rested her hands on top of her desk. The look on her face conveyed chills down Hiei's spine; the smile the woman wore were neither of humor or satisfaction, it was just there and it exhibited dread. The battlecruiser took a step back as she hid the glasses behind her back.

"Ah! Admiral Ame, it isn't what it looks like!" Hiei reasoned, her free hand reaching towards the door knob. "Y-you know what? I'll take my leave" And as Hiei turned around for the door, the woman snatched out a .44 mag revolver from her desk's drawer and shot out a round, which barely missed Hiei. The battlecruiser slowly turned to face the woman, her free hand, now firmly clasped at the alloy door handle. The woman blew out the smoke emitting from the revolver's muzzle, spun it around before placing it on top of her desk.

"Where are you going, Hiei?" The woman asked, strangely cheerful about the ordeal. "I haven't said for you to leave yet" Hiei gulped, this time, she knew she could not escape from the woman's wrath.

"Now, tell me, what happened to my glasses?"

* * *

Destiny had somehow managed to escape from the group of five, as Mutsu led her to an old-looking building with the only entrance being open. A cloth, colored in an unfamiliar color, draped down out on the front with the words 'Curry Friday' imprinted on it in white and in English, and above it was a wooden sign, with unreadable words carved into it- the only thing she could read out from it was the kanji for food ' **食** '. The delicious scents of the location's cuisine infiltrated her nose and entranced her.

"We're here~" Mutsu informed, gesturing to the building. Mutsu turned towards the building, and entered; Destiny quickly followed suit. As she set foot in the structure, the scent became overwhelming, and it made her even hungrier. But that wasn't all, there were even more people inside than outside, laughing and chatting amongst themselves; Destiny wasn't really used to that kind of atmosphere, to her, it was quite bothersome.

"Mutsu, there you are!" Approaching them was another woman with big busts; her straight black hair cascaded down almost past her back and touched her revealed cleavage, as she bent down to closely inspect Destiny. The woman's vermillion eyes gazed intently at Destiny, darting back and forth as the woman examined her. A moment later, the woman stood upright again; Destiny felt intimidated by the towering, hushed Sentinel, and that was just the height alone, the woman's strength could be a whole lot different.

Destiny quirked an eyebrow, noticing the woman's features were slowly reddening; and she could senseMutsu smiling from ear-to-ear behind her back. The woman turned her back and stalked away and Destiny swore that she could hear the woman uttering phrases under her breath such as **"So cute..."** and **"God, she's so adorable"**. Destiny looked back at Mutsu, who was practically giggling quietly to herself. The little girl pointed towards the retreating woman and tilted her head; Mutsu stopped giggling as she noticed this and smiled.

"She's my sister ship, Nagato, first of the Nagato-class Battleships" Mutsu answered." We may not really look at the same, but trust me, we are sisters" Mutsu continued as she noticed the visible baffled aspect on Destiny's face. "Now, let's go get something to eat"

They continued on, walking past tables filled with various people; what was strange was that there were no men at all, just women. Destiny pushed that thought at the back of her head, as hunger fully took over her. As she walked, she could feel hundreds of eyes peering straight down at her, watching her like crows, but no one turned silent, they continued on talking. The objectives of some of their talk was considerably interesting, to say the least; she remembered two girls; one having black hair tied into a braid and the other having pink hair tied in a long side ponytail with a white beret sitting on top of her head, discussing about something called 'the abyssals'.

Mutsu tapped on Destiny's shoulder. She looked back to the front and noticed that they both arrived in front of a counter. Mutsu lightly pressed on a bell that was installed on top of the counter and soon came a short woman in her late 20s.

"What can I do for you, Mutsu-san?"

"Ah, Houshou-San, where's Mamiya?"

"She's out gathering potatoes and carrots for the curries"

"Ara~, is that so? I can't wait to eat the curry she'll be making"

Soon, the two were engrossed in conversing about food; hearing the words just made her even more hungry. Destiny gave a lengthy sigh; it was going to be long till she would get to eat. She advanced towards an empty table and climbed up at sturdy chairs; her head was barely past the table's height, but she could still quite see the environment around her.

She just sat there in silence, waiting for Mutsu to finally come with plates of food- but, eh, she can survive without food that long. Sitting there was an uncomplicated matter; well it would have been if lots of moderately curious people didn't come to ask what the hell she was; A shipgirl- from what she had heard people mentioned her as, or a human.

But truth be told, she was neither any of those two- she was sure, having heard the white coats back at the institute talking about her and her...'abilities'.

 **"So, this girl is a half-abyssal, half-human?"**

 **"Yes, Overseer"**

 **"To think one of our kind slept with the enemy, it disappoints me to hear all of this, such fools should be** **condem** **to hell"**

Destiny looked down at her feet; she didn't really want to attract so much attention, all she wanted now was the knowledge of how she had got in that place, someone trustful she could talk to, and most importantly; food.

Destiny looked up, hearing the tweet of an approaching bird. Hovering high above, avoiding the crowds, was the little black bird. Upon closer examination only did Destiny realized that the bird had illuminating- and I mean illuminating azure eyes. It's silver beak glistened from the brightness of the light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It swooped down and landed on one of the structure's support beams; one close to Destiny. There was something vaguely familiar about the bird, but she couldn't quite perceive what it was, but whatever it was, it was probably significant to how she managed to escape the Institute.

That thought wasn't carried further on, as Destiny realized that Mutsu had eventually arrived at their table, bringing along with her, a tray carrying two plates of steaming hot curry. The strong scent of it struck her nose and made her drool a slight bit. Her eyes shone, gawking directly at the Curry and with a fast, nimble motion, she grabbed the spoon beside her and began wolfing down the contents on her plate, not caring about the pairs of curious eyes that continued to watch her as she did so. Mutsu chuckled at Destiny's actions; it caught her attention and she glanced up at Mutsu, whilst continued to eat. Mutsu noticed this and waved at her, a signal for her to continue.

Destiny understood this and later consuming more of her food. Mutsu, hungry herself, grasped the other plate of curry and slowly started to eat it with petite and simple bites. The entirety of lunch time was spent in silence; well not really, as that very muteness was always getting drowned out by chatters, discussions, and what-not.

Mutsu, deciding that the silence was both awkward and not necessary, spoke up. "So, is it ok if you can tell me your name? It'll be easier to call you by your name than 'little girl'" Destiny gulped down her food and thought about it. Now Mutsu had mentioned it, it really was awkward- and weird.

"Destiny...that's my name...I think" She finally spoke for the first time to Mutsu.

Mutsu smiled. "So, are you an American ship girl perhaps? Maybe even a German one..." Mutsu's face suddenly turned ghostly pale. "...or are you...perhaps...a human?"Mutsu shook her head, clearing all of her overflowing thoughts.

She recalled a moment when the admiral told her that the ship girls were a securely guarded secret and that the naval bases around Japan, America, Germany, and Britain containing the ship girls were known as nothing to the rest of the world. If such news would break out, it would cause a huge 'pandemic', spreading across the world like...an ocean's wave, maybe? News reporters, people in general would gather about demanding questions about the ships girls and the technology that was used to build them- but the thing was, no one knew; only these group of people, The Blood Wolves, led by an individual naming themselves 'The Arcanist', and knew the secret of the technology and the scientists, mechanics, and engineers that managed to get a hold of this secret.

Destiny didn't answer, she continued to consume the curry.

Sighing, Mutsu went back to eating. The girl was strangely quiet, as if something was holding her back or something, maybe there was?

As she ate, she noted two more females advancing towards them, one of them, being a young adult with two braided buns bunched up on her brown hair, an ahoge sticking out from the top of her head, and the other, having silver hair cascading down almost past her back. They both wore similar outfits; an updated miko uniform, with the skirts different from each other, and a metal winged headband resting atop of their heads. Mutsu smiled at the two, and they smiled back in response.

Destiny, however, was distrustful of the two approaching females and hung her head down to avoid looking at them.

" _Heyyy_ , Mutsu, how are you-" That's when the brown haired woman immediately noticed the girl sitting there ever so quietly, slowly munching on their ordered food. Her eyes lit up in surprise.

" _Oh!_ We have a new girl!" The woman cheerily cried, a bit of English stuck onto her Japanese- a strange but common combination to Destiny's appeal. "My name is Kongou, first of the Kongou-class battlecruisers and Admiral's one true lover! _DESS_!"

Destiny sweat dropped at the woman's, formally now known as Kongou, crazy antics. The other woman chuckled- that reaction earned a puzzled look from Destiny. "Ah, Onee-sama is always like this, so Haruna is used to this" The woman glanced at Destiny. "I'm third of the Kongou-class battlecruisers, Haruna, such a pleasure to meet you, um...?" Haruna awaited for Destiny to announce her name, but nothing came out.

"She's a reserved and quiet girl, Haruna-san, she doesn't really speak much" Mutsu informed them. "So please don't do anything that might startle her, including being loud" Mutsu glared at Kongou.

"Haruna wants to learn her name!" Haruna declared. "What is it, Mutsu-san?"

"Her name is Destiny"

"Is she from-?" Before Kongou could finalize her sentence, they heard a defeaning bang- like a gunshot, that rang through the air and quitened down everyone in the bar. Destiny was surprised that a single noise could be able to diminish the noises generated by a crowd that large; strangely enough, no one looked panicked, they seemed calm and already understood the current situation.

"Looks like someone broke Admiral's glasses again" Someone chuckled in the crowd.

"Fifth time now?"

"Heh, I wonder who caused this"

Soon, everyone was up and talking again, conversing about this 'admiral', how many times she got her glasses broken and who had done it this time; Destiny ignored their gossiping, thinking it was just another useless topic. She hopped off her chair and decided to deposit her plate in front of the counter, for Houshou to pick up and wash it.

The black bird suddenly swooped down in front of Destiny and begun to sing a melodious tune. The bird suddenly flew past the gathered crowd and onto the outside world. Enchanted by the song the bird composed, Destiny decided to follow it. Whilst the others were distracted, she decided to sneak through the crowd, and hopefully not get noticed. She pushed her way through them, and was glad that they easily parted away, creating a path just for Destiny. Instantly as she stepped outside, it felt like time was frozen. Looking around, she realized she was right.

The soaring gulls above her had come to a stand sill, same with the many trees that stopped rustling. Just above her, almost touching her forehead, was a dried leaf; it was in the progress of falling down, but due to something, it had just floated there. To her right, was a young woman with short, brownish hair that was swept to the sides, wearing the same outfit as Kongou and Haruna.

Behind her was another woman; black long hair, with a pair of black eyes; said woman wore an outfit that reminded Destiny of the paintings of history's greatest leaders and dictators back at the Institute- a white, almost dirtied coat and trousers; the coat being, embellished with golden ornamentation, draping down the back of the woman like a mantle or cape. A black crop top contained the swell of the woman's large breasts; those huge pairs were probably bigger than Mutsu's. Her top was the only thing hindering the woman's sleek, and sturdily-built body; seeing this kind of figure, only suggested to Destiny that this woman was no one to be messed with. The most interesting thing about this woman was the worn out officer's cap that sat on top of the crown of her head, with a familiar symbol she immediately recognizes from the Institute, embroidered on it. Whoever this woman was, they were probably in a really high rank, seeing the gold medals and embroidery that adorned the woman's clothes.

Both women were frozen in a strange position as if the muscular woman was chasing the other one; she was right again. The expressions said it all, the expression on the face of the woman getting chased was frozen in fear, and said woman looked like her eyes were about to pop out from their sockets. The other looked provoked; her face red in rage. There was a revolver, clutched between the woman's right hand and it looked like she was about to aim at the brown haired woman's head.

The bird's tweet caught her attention. Destiny looked towards the direction where she heard it and saw the bird flying towards an area, dominated by humongous and tall trees- a forest.

Destiny was baffled; a forest near the ocean? Was something like that possible?

Eh, whatever, it was just a couple of normal-looking trees

Right?

Destiny suddenly got a feeling that shouldn't enter the forest, she immediately recognized that impulse; her instinct- her 'warning' bell. She chose to disregard it and proceeded to march towards the forest, seeing that the bird was far ahead of her. She took one last look of the building/canteen behind her before the shrubbery completely consumed her.

* * *

Hushed silence, with the occasional beeping of the monitor in display in front of the dormant girl, was the only noise present in the vague room. With the brightness of the monitor's screen, you can still see the girl laying there motionless, her head settled on her arms.

She was 20 years old, but her body betrayed to show it- she had an inadequate figure, with a flat chest; she looked most like a 13-14-year-old. The girl had extended brown hair, tied into a _**really**_ long ponytail, with an ahoge sticking out from the top of her head. Her weather-worn, blue zipped hoodie, was unzipped to about her waist, revealing her to be wearing a plain, white t-shirt. The lower parts consisted of a short, black pleated skirt, over pale gray motion shorts and black flip-flops for footwear.

Suddenly, the ground beneath began to shake; first, it started out to be quite weak, then it got worst. The girl was jostled awake; she expected herself to be staring at the flashing screen. but instead, she found herself staring at the roof. The girl got up; blurriness clouded her vision, making it hard for her to see anything. As she tried to stand up, using the chair as a support, she stumbled back to the ground and found herself face first on the floor. She lifted herself up, almost-again- tumbling back to the floor due to the immense shaking. She carried on towards her desk; crawling to avoid any means of tripping, and plopped herself down on her chair.

She began typing on the keyboard settled in front of the monitor in an astounding speed; words after words, numbers after numbers were transcripted into the large screen. The girl's eye lit up, seeing a warning sign appear on the screen. She commenced working even faster than ever now, her hands flying around in supersonic acceleration. Droplets of precipitation began to form on her forehead; some trickling down her cheek and dripped on the girl's wooden desk; she took a second off, wiping the sweat off her face, whilst her other hand continued to do the typing. A moment later, the screen flickered green, before the monitor shuts off automatically.

The girl leaned back on her chair, content that this calamity was over. She decided to head outside to get some fresh air; she felt like the room was suffocating her. The girl used all of her willpower to get herself up and staggered towards the door. With one hefty push, the metal door flew open, and a ray of sunshine burst through the entrance and blinded her; being stuck in a dark room for or god knows how long didn't do much help- didn't do any help at all.

The strong wind brushed against her face, carrying the salty smell of the sea. The girl took a deep breath and then let it all out- it was nice being out once and a while.

"Scarlett, you lucky bastard, you the most awesome god damn creature to ever live" The girl, naming themselves as Scarlett, said to herself. "Now, today we will find the 'Fractures' and get rid of them before they will add more to the trouble"

This girl's name was Scarlett Akimoto; once was Lire Gallagher, a forgotten entity from the past.

And she was known to the world as 'The Blood Wolf'.

* * *

 **A/N:** Hey **guys, soz for** late **update** **, Project was expanded cuz the teacher got sick for like a goddamn weak -_-" lame... I was typing this so fast my fingers are aching like hell. Oh and pm me for any new plans for this story or just leave one in the reviews whatever you choose. Well anyways hope you enjoy this chapter.**


	3. 2: Moving Shadows-PART 2

The forest Destiny entered was was like it was from of a primitive age; reeking of age- centuries-old of incense caused by branches snapped off from the umber-brown trees and was left to decay; the organic scent washing over Destiny in waves like a miasma. Every lounging tree Destiny crossed past reminded her of some sentinel. A silent guardian gazing down at her- like Nagato. Roots, belonging to each tree, penetrated the crusty soil and came out and few centimeters from them, twisting like wire. Thick and lush foliage, filled with thorns and berries flanked the trail, creating an impenetrable fence or barrier. The leafy green canopies of the trees prevented the sunlight from hitting the forest floor, and Destiny was left to wander in the darkness, with only the tweets of the little black bird as her only guidance. Shuffling noises, echoed roars, pitter-patters of little critters climbing up the branches; who knows what kind of creatures would live in such dense environment.

Soon, Destiny arrived at a wide valley, where trees were cut to create a perfect circle around them and exposing the cerulean sky. The golden sun hung lazily above her, bathing Destiny in warmth and casting a honey-gold sheen over the foliage of trees. In the middle of the clearing was a small rock pool, formed under a gigantic willow tree; its hanging leaves swaying gently in the fresh breeze.

The bird landed just a few feet away from Destiny and stared at her. It raised one if its wings as if it was pointing to the willow a joyful tweet, It fluttered skyward into the air and sped towards the tree. Destiny stumbled after it, bare feet gingerly tramping on the lush grass, carefully avoiding the sharp pebbles that scattered around the trail.

And at soon last, she reached the bottom of the willow tree; it shocked her that the roots were greater than her, in both height and size- she could barely even reach the top of the roots with her tippy-toes. A sweeping canopy of light purple leaves hung down from far above Destiny, providing Destiny shelter from the sunlight and the increasing wind. The tree's bark was strangely soft and colored a light shade of brown, unlike most willow trees. The rock pool didn't look normal as well, strange-shaped rocks circling around it unevenly and the water that was contained in the pool was glowing a blue hue.

" **Walk...** " A voice whispered into her ear. Destiny swiftly turned around to face the voice's owner but was caught in confusion as she saw that there was no one behind her.

" **The water...** " Behind Destiny, the rock pool seemed to glow brighter, a fluorescent light filling the shade; it immediately grabbed the attention of Destiny. She swung around and managed to see a blue shimmering, translucent figure beginning to form just above the rock pool.

The figure looked like a young woman in her young adult years- most likely to be 20. It had long hair reaching down past it's back. At first, it was naked, but then cloth-like materials- shining like the figure- sprouted from behind it and began wrapping itself around the figure, molding into clothes. The figure opened their eyes and an illuminating light burst forth and blinded Destiny. She backed away from the figure, but without being able to see, she tripped over a root that barely stuck out from the ground and plummeted down. Destiny landed on her bottom with a blatant thud, causing the figure to divert their attention to her.

"Oh my, are you alright, dear child?" The figure asked as they stood over Destiny, hands covering their mouths as if they were surprised. "Would like some help getting up?". Destiny shook her head as she steadily got to her feet.

"Ah...I'm...alright..." Destiny spoke in a tiny voice. "Um...who are you...?"

The figure gave a reassuring smile. "I go by the name of Aura, I am one of the 'Guardians of Tranquility'; a group of five origins dedicated to protecting Elysium and its residents, I-" Aura paused, noticing the visibly perplexed expression written on Destiny's face. "Ah, I have confused yet another person, let me explain everything- if I can before Necrolotylx's Minions come"

"What do you mean...everything?" Destiny questioned.

Aura smiled even more- if that was even possible. "Tell me, child. Have you ever wondered that there are other worlds other there?" Aura asked as she drifted down from her spot above the pool to in front of Destiny. "Have you?" Aura swiftly advanced towards Destiny, stopping as their foreheads collided against each other. Startled at the sudden movement, Destiny jumped back in fright. She shook her head in response.

Aura shrugged. "Not surprising that you don't know, those men at that depressing place successfully erased your memories and took away your identity, well at least The Arcanist gave you a new body, and that's good enough" Aura was murmuring under her breath, earning a confused look from Destiny.

Aura glanced at Destiny. "You see, Destiny, out there are other realms, worlds parallel to each other- simple words cannot describe such"

"These worlds are contained in this vast space called 'The Eonverse'. It is much like the Milky way and galaxies you know, except bigger and more 'starry', with no planets that are contained within it, but wormholes and vortexes and lead to the other worlds. Entering the Eonverse takes lots of time to prepare- and work, as you can't just fly up there with a rocket or any space-related vehicles, machines, doohickeys and what-not, it takes a clear mind and an understanding of highly-complicated...things, anyways... _blah, blah, blah_ " Destiny decided to ignore Aura for now.

" _Blah, blah, blah_...The Creator...Blah,blah,blah,blah...The World of Vercidonia...blah, blah, white coats blah... **Origins** " Destiny remembered hearing the word from the white coats at the institutes were talking about it; Strange humanoid beings with powers and abilities- maybe she was one? But then again, she did overhear the Overseer mentioning her as a half-abyssal and half-human hybrid.

"Um...Aura, what's an Origin, and what do they do?" Destiny asked.

Aura stopped in the middle of her explanation. "I'm glad you asked Destiny, an Origin is a special-" Aura halted. She was staring straight at the space above Destiny, appearing tense as if there was something there in the clearing that Aura didn't want to show up.

"Sh-!" Aura glanced down at Destiny. "...ivers, the Fractures...they are here!"

"Hey...what's going..." Aura's hands began to radiate a strong dark blue glow. She placed the glowing hand on Destiny's forehead and began chanting incoherent words. "Destiny, I will tell you this and I will tell you now, you need to lay low until The Arcanist can arrive, or else you will be dead. Shade, the bird that guided you here, and your shadow will protect you. All will be explained thoroughly as soon as **she** arrives..."

"W-what..." Destiny collapsed as she felt her legs give way in exhaustion. Her body felt numb, rid of any movements; the most she could do was to operate both her fingers and head. Her vision wavered as it started to darkened; she looked up to see Aura exchanging a glance at her before she sped towards...somewhere. With all her remaining strength, Destiny glanced to the side and barely caught a glimpse of four grotesque creatures- all resembling an animal- approaching her; snarling and growling with drool dripping their chin.

Aura suddenly came into view, swiftly running towards the four creatures. " **Lustre Repulse!** " With a sudden cry, her palms began to radiate a blue light, similar to earlier but were lighter in color. She thrust her arm towards, striking her palms onto the chest of one of the creatures- a black, robust-built bear in the size of a small truck, with broken shackles fastened on to its four limbs- propelling it back further away from them.

That same creature gave out a deep, prolonged cry as it staggered back away from Aura, the latter giving out a huff as she straightened herself up. The other three creatures looked back at their injured comrade and watched as they suddenly fall down. Destiny saw the creature's chest rising and subsiding a couple of times before it completely went still.

"Well, that's one of you being taken care off-" Aura came to abrupt stop as she saw one of the remaining creatures- a tangerine, blazing tiger with golden stripes that was slightly bigger than the bear- opening its mouth, revealing it's serrated teeth; and the ball of fire that began to form in its mouth. The other two backed way as the ball grew more immense. Moments later, only did Aura realized that the tiger wasn't aiming at her.

It was aiming at Destiny

The Tiger fired out the fireball, as Aura quickly got in front of Destiny, standing in the crossfire. As the ball approached them at high speed, a golden aura coated the Aura's arm as she placed them in front of herself to interfere the impact of the fireball. The collision between Aura's hands and the fireball caused a massive explosion; smoke and flames were all Destiny could see within her vision, there was no trace of Aura.

Suddenly, out from the smoke was Aura, with barely any scratch on her, but from what it appeared, it looked like she was slowly flickering out- like a lightbulb that was soon running out of power. From what she could see through her hazy vision, Destiny managed to see The pained expression that was planted on Aura's face, and she understood that Aura had gotten damaged by the fireball.

"Listen, I couldn't finish my sentence earlier, but I shall finish it now" Aura spoke, hearing the roars of the three creatures as they advanced towards them. "The Arcanist will come for you, you must convince her to give you knowledge of the things you never knew was true, to help you get used to your new-found abilities. She will be reluctant at first but she will agree to do so. The last piece I have to tell you, dear child, is something you must never forget. Tell these following words to the head mechanic of the Yokosuka Naval Base and no one else: ' **"The War is nearing upon us, if you cannot find the remaining nine who will reunite the abyssals, ship girls, humans, and Origins to cease the ever-growing forces of the Fractures and Nyxes, we will all be annihilated** '"

The last thing Destiny saw was Aura exchanging a poignant glance at her as her body dwindled out to nothingness before everything faded away, as Destiny's vision went completely black.

* * *

Destiny awoke to the sound of numerous voice chatting amongst themselves. She nonchalantly opened her eyes and was caught in surprise as she saw so many pairs of eyes peering down at her.

"Oi, she's waking up, everyone, give her some space!" With that command, the owners of the pairs of eyes retreated back. The talking hadn't died down yet and was slowly beginning to annoy Destiny. One individual- the one who gave the command- neared her and bent down to take a good look at her. From the eyepatch and the eccentric ear objects, Destiny realized it was Tenryuu. "Hey kid, you alright?"

"W-what...happened?" Destiny asked. "Why...is everyone crowding around...me?"

A familiar figure from the crowd stepped forwards and approached her. It was Nagato, and along with her was Mutsu. "When Admiral Ame fired her gun towards Hiei, you ran towards at the path of the bullet. It only barely grazed you thank God" Nagato explained. Now did Nagato mentioned it, Destiny felt something sting on her right cheek. Not only that, she felt some sticky liquid flowing out from her knee and presumably dripping down to the ground.

"You may have passed out from fright, as you suddenly fell limp and managed to injure your knee". Destiny gazed down at her knee and sure enough, there was a large cut on her knee. As blood poured forth from it, the usual metallic scent of the liquid infiltrated Destiny's nose and almost made her gag.

"Come now, I'll take you to the med bay and we'll get you patched up," Mutsu said as she helped Destiny back to her feet.

"Will you be alright taking her there?" The white-clad woman from earlier- presumably 'Admiral Ame', from what Nagato called her- asked. "No complications or whatever?"

"I'll be fine" Mutsu answered. She swung back to look back at Destiny. "Shall we go, then?"

/

The trip to the med bay was quite long, as the building that the med bay was situated in was the furthest, but in that extended time, the two managed to hold a conversation together, with Mutsu asking Destiny questions about herself and with the latter responding quietly and hesitantly; in some point of the conversation, Mutsu explained about ship girls, giving further information about the message Aura gave to Destiny. But not only that, Mutsu surprised Destiny by mentioning that she was a ship girl as well.

"So...you ship girls are basically human versions of warships?" Destiny said as the two finally arrived at the building where the med bay was built in.

The structure was probably the most modern thing she ever saw, with gleaming white walls and a glass dome at the top to let sunlight through inside.

"Yes, we are warships in the bodies of girls and women, we bleed, we have emotions, we have things a normal human has" Mutsu answered as she trudged up towards the double doors and opened it for Destiny. "After you"

As Destiny entered inside the structure, mixtures of different scents greeted her. The smell of anesthetic and different chemicals hung heavily in the air, and for someone like Destiny, who wasn't used to that kind of smell, everything smelt revolting. The faint noise of the air conditioner could be heard, it was probably the only noise- apart from a few tweets of birds from outside- that could be heard. The entire room was kind of...bare, the only pieces of furniture and decorations being a set of a couch and two chairs in front of a flat screen tv with a wide, black coffee table in the middle of the distance between the couch and tv, potted plants, and a painting of a black wolf placed hanging on the wall that separated two hallways- it was the furthest from the two.

"This building was just newly built here two weeks ago, we're using it to tend to the human workers if they get injured" Mutsu explained. "There are only four people running this place, they will be extremely busy right now so we have to be quiet, ok?"

Mutsu led Destiny to the hall to the right. As they went their way down the bare hall, Destiny could overhear screaming and groaning. They passed by a metal door with a small window, and from what Destiny could hear, the noises were coming from that room.

Destiny goes over to the door and took a peek inside through the window- she wished she shouldn't have done it.

All she could see was absolute anarchy; Blood everywhere, staining the polished white walls, people lying on hospital beds, groaning and screaming as said blood poured forth from wounds, with only four women- maybe the four who were running the place?- tending to the injured. Destiny continued to watch as the four whizzed past beds, checking on each occupant. Suddenly, one of the four noticed her watching them work and instantly advanced towards the door.

The door flew open as the woman kicked the door, sending Destiny back a couple of feet from the force.

"WHAT THE HELL YOU DOIN' HERE, KID?!" the woman bellowed, seizing the attention of Mutsu, who was unsuspecting of Destiny sneaking off earlier. "YOU AIN'T ALLOWED TO WATCH-"

"And why is that?" Mutsu interrupted.

The woman redirected her attention to Mutsu. "Oh, it's you...um...how am I gon' explain this..." The woman muttered as she nervously scratched the back of her head. "The Director made up this freakin' new rule bout' people not bein' able to watch us work or somethin' like that.

"That's a ridiculous rule"

"I actually agree with ya' on this one," The woman replied, running a hand through her shoulder-length light brown hair. "But rules are rules, even though I ain't even part of the health department, still gotta follow em' "

"Well you didn't have to shout like that, the poor child is probably shaken"

"Eh, sorry then, stress is gettin' to us since the Director disappeared a few days ago, the health department's been tryin' to help the poor folks', but they're understaffed right now so I had to help em', since Ayame's been locked up in her shed for weeks now! God damn asshole, leaving me to do all the work" The woman huffed. "Anyways, what cha' guys doin' here, from the looks of the kid right there, you need a bandage, am I right?"

Mutsu nodded. "Yes, can you give us some gauze bandages please?"

"Sure thing" The woman spun around to return back into the room and as she opened the door, the screaming and groaning filled the silence once more.

Destiny turned to look at Mutsu. "Who was that?" She asked.

"Her name is Kathy Browns, goes by the name Kat, she's currently helping us due to some debts her father didn't fully...complete, she's from New Zealand by the way" Mutsu explained. "She works with our mechanic here, they make a pretty good team, to be honest, if it wasn't for Kat's violent temper"

As Mutsu uttered the word, 'Mechanic', Destiny instantly remembered the message Aura had told her to deliver to who ever this mechanic was. But just before Destiny was about to ask Mutsu about the mechanic, Kat joined them again and with her was a roll of gauze bandages and a bottle of antiseptic. She approached Destiny and bent down to take a look at her knee.

"Eh it ain't that bad, I'll apply a lil' bit of antiseptic onto it then put the bandage on"

Kat took out a cotton ball from, surprisingly out of nowhere, and began pouring a tiny bit of the antiseptic onto it. After doing so, Kat waited for a couple of seconds for the liquid to soak into the cotton ball, before smearing it over Destiny's knee. Destiny hissed in pain, experiencing the stinging as the cotton ball met with the wound. After sometime later, Kat ceased the rubbing and gently wrapped the bandage around Destiny's knee.

"Looks good, now don't go off and run around like some confused idiot" Kat informed. "Or it might get worst" Kat got up and walked towards the door. "Now you's better go before Rin catches ya" And with that bid of farewell, Kat shuts the door close quite forcefully.

"We should head back now, Admiral may want to-" Mutsu was soon interrupted when a blatant sound swept across the base. "Oh no..." Mutsu grabbed Destiny's hand and ran.

"Hey, what's going...?"

"No time to explain, I'll take you to the building where I first found you, there will be people there and if you need any assistance, just ask one of them, ok?" Mutsu replied as they burst through the entrance door and into the sunlight.

Panic; fear was all Destiny could see as she saw multitudes of people rushing about in chaos. From the corner of her eye, she could discern injured figures limping across the concrete surface.

"The abyssals...The abyssals are attacking!"

* * *

Destiny sighed, finding herself back in the room once more. Though it wasn't as silent like before, many voices from outside kept it from being silent. Destiny was wondering what was going on, seeing the panicked looks on everyone's faces as she passed them by on her way to the room. Mutsu looked like she was in a state of panic as well, even though the ship girl was obviously doing her best to not display it, the look of distress on her face was still visually clear, it was all surprising for Destiny. But what was more surprising for her was that Mutsu would just leave a 7-yr old like her in a room all by herself, with no adult supervision. Fortunately, there were people outside, so she could still request for assistance.

She was sitting on the bed, with her was a pile of books that she managed to scrounge up from the room; at least there were some items there to keep her from getting bored. The window was wide open, letting the cool breeze enter, and providing a full view of the discord outside.

"Make sure the civilians are safe!"

"Where the hell is the second fleet!?"

"They're out on an expedition, god, did they really have to get sent out in the worst time ever!?'

Those were some of the words Destiny could discern from all the shouting, a few of those voices she could recognize from before. Shaking her head to distract herself, Destiny grabbed the book on top of the pile and began flipping through the pages without bothering to look at the title- astonishingly, there were no words or images at all, just blank, stained pages with a few splodges of ink here and there.

Confused, she closed the book to examine the cover, discovering that the book was leather-bound, but for some odd reason, it felt denser than most leather-bound book. Examining it closer only did Destiny realized that the book wasn't made out of leather, it was made out of strange material that to the touch, felt like stone. There were thirteen symbols seemingly carved onto the cover; One -symbolizing what seemed to be an eight-pointed star over a thick ring- in the middle with the other twelve surrounding like a circle; Destiny noticed that the one in the middle was slightly larger than the rest.

The first act that Destiny thought of upon learning of this was to abandon the book, however, for some unusual reason, there was something peculiar regarding the book that seemed to lure Destiny, with all the vacant pages and the eccentric symbols on the cover.

She decided to flip through the book once more to find any signs of interests in it, only to find that there were now words inscribed onto the pages. Maybe it appeared by strange occurrences was Destiny's initial thought, before a clawed hand created out of shadows emerged from the pages and snapped at Destiny, barely avoiding by an inch. Destiny was unfortunate enough that no one could hear her, due to the commotion outside, as she leaped back in fright and tumbled down to the floor with a cry.

The book plunged to the ground onto the ground with a loud thud as it hit the floorboards; the book was still open, its pages flipping non-stop, back-to-forth, and from the flipping alone, the book slightly moved.

Upon impulse, Destiny's first move was to hurl the book out of the window and pray for the poor fellow who would come across it. It was successful at first -throwing it out the window- however as she spun around from the window, the book reappeared on the floor but with the flipping coming to a halt. Destiny looked out the window and glanced down to the ground. Sure enough, the book had disappeared from there. She looked back at the book, as a visibly perplexed expression began to take form on her face.

"Heh, so you're the fourth one?" Scoffed a voice, from- well- absolutely nowhere. "You may look pitiful to my eyes, but maybe you're enough..."

Destiny stared up at the ceiling and witnessed as the black bird from before descended down and settled just a couple of feet away from Destiny. "So you must be Destiny?"

"...Huh? " Destiny gaped at the bird that somehow had the capacity and ability to speak. "You can...talk...?"

"You're surprised that a feeble bird like me can talk, considering all the events you've been through, like how you washed up here, finding yourself in the Whispering Willow, and these ship girls" The bird sneered. "You must be pretty stupid, aren't you?"

"You're Shade, aren't you?" Destiny questioned.

"Aura mentioned my name, did she not?" Shade replied. "Or did you not listen to her, girl?"

"I did listen to her if I didn't, how would I know your name?" Destiny retorted. Shade glared at her and gave a snort as he rotated around to look at the book.

"Huh, so it seems like you've found the book Akimoto-sama owned" The bird muttered, gliding down to the book to take a better look at it. "And it still works..."

"What do you mean it still works?...what's even going on?..." Destiny fell silent, seeing as Shade -being a moderate-sized bird- effortlessly picking up the book by his talons and transferring it over somewhere in the room, presumably hiding it. Shade returned back a couple of seconds later, now perching on the window sill.

"Whatever, I've got no time to explain what's going on, we must hurry as the fifth one will arrive soon" Shade spoke. "If we do not arrive in time, the Fractures will surely come"

"Fractures?...what are they?" Destiny asked, growing serious in an instant. "Aura mentioned about them, about joining forces with...Nyxes, I think?"

Shade glanced at Destiny in satisfaction. "Ah, you're serious now, huh?" He spoke. "Well, I shall explain for Akimoto-sama's behalf after we've gotten the fifth one" Without another word, Shade folded out his wings and took flight. Destiny poked her head out the window, to watch as the bird's silhouette darted towards the direction where the sea laid.

Destiny ran towards the door and flung it open, stumbling onto the busy hall. No one was aware that Destiny was there, tearing across the hall and darting past figures. It was absolute chaos; the halls were crowded with people Destiny didn't recognize, pushing against each other in attempts to reach their destination- wherever it was. Shouting echoed off the walls, joined by excited conversations and the occasional confused statements. Several minutes of pushing and shoving, Destiny succeeded at reaching the staircase. She proceeded to quickly travel down the stairs, tripping on someone's foot in the process and landing on her face with a resounding thud. Though it seemed like no one bothered to stop and help Destiny up, one familiar individual did.

"Is that you, Destiny-chan?" Destiny looked up to see a pair of brown eyes staring down at her. "What are you doing out here?" It was Fubuki. The young-looking ship girl lent Destiny a hand, to which Destiny hesitantly accepted. Fubuki pulled Destiny up, almost making the little girl stumble due to her strength.

"Yamato-san told me to escort you to somewhere safe, we have to-" Fubuki was cut short as there came a white flash, followed by a deafening noise like extended thunder that reverberated over the once-sleeping settlement. From out of the windows, Destiny witnessed as a fist of orange flames and smoke punched its way up into the atmosphere and the next building to the right turned into shrapnel and debris as it suddenly exploded, creating another fiery fist of flame and smoke. The huge flames flattened, then spread to form a mushroom shape. It was twisting writing, changing one shape to another; once a huge belching fireball and cackling with lighting, now nothing but a fog of dark smoke. Destiny noticed that everyone- excluding herself- was laying on the ground, some in strange positions in order to protect their ears and organs from nothing, whilst the some were still standing, staring up at the ceiling as if they were expecting it to fall over their heads.

The earth shook vigorously as Destiny heard the deafening noise from every direction, all going off at the same time. Suddenly, a part of the structure's roof caved in; wood falling down and almost crushing some of the people if they hadn't evaded in time.

"Oh no...they're already here!" Fubuki mumbled, loud enough for Destiny to hear. "Come on, I need to-" she was interrupted once again, as the force of the violent shaking threw her heavily to the ground. Using the time to escape, Destiny raced to the doors that led to the outside and grabbed onto the door's handles. With one hefty push, she was sent stumbling into the outside world.

Some of the tranquil buildings, where the inhabitants resided in, had been receded into debris, as a roaring blaze slowly overtook them. The bitter wind; carrying the acrid scent of stale gunpowder and ashes, swept across the area and enveloped her nose; the ground slick with water and blood. Numerous people- presumably the ship girls- ran to one direction; towards the ocean, where Destiny could see smoke rising from the horizon.

From the noises of distant gunfire and the ruined scenery, Destiny understood that there was a battle happening at that very moment.

Somewhere in the distance, Destiny could make out multiple dark silhouettes approaching. Without a second thought, she hurried for the coast to get a better look.

* * *

 **(A/N): Hello guys, I'm finally back from a loooong holiday, sorry if you see lots of error. Anyways, from that span of one month, I've decided to put The Flames will be our Savior on hiatus for maybe a long time. In the meantime, I might have a new fanfiction being published. Have a good day or night, readers!**


	4. 3: Moving Shadows-PART 3

**A/N: I'm sorry once more for a VERRRY late update, I suddenly got sick two days after I posted the new story. I hope you , I might randomly change the plot in the middle of the fanfic and I shall apologize in advance for it, sometimes my mind just can't decide.**

 **Next Chapter is when things actually get interesting, maybe, idk, its for you to decide, Scarlett will finally appear and it will the last chapter of the 'Moving Shadows' Arc.**

* * *

For Kaga, it was a completely average day, the waters were quiet with no abyssals on sight. The sky was a perfect blue, stretching over her head for infinity, smothered with wispy, light gray clouds, the unrelenting sun shining proudly overhead. The sea remained tranquil, clean and gentle, its ebbing tides harmonious- like a song. But even if the ocean appeared dormant, Kaga knew just how powerful the waters could be- one sweep of a tidal wave could send you deep into the abyss. The waters splashed onto Kaga's face as she skated along the water's surface, cooling her off from the heat- and she was grateful for that.

It really was a pleasant day-

Until the gunfire started

Now Kaga found herself standing amidst the bodies of fallen enemies and comrades as they began to sink slowly into the sea. The battle had raged on for many hours, and Kaga was determined to persist until the end just to see another day. One hand clutching her bow, the other pulling the arrow back slowly, she prepares to fire another time while more abyssals began to appear.

Kaga released her grip, sending the arrow flying. Then, as the arrow began to slow down, it quickly burst into a squadron of six 46M Zeroes. They advanced towards two abyssals- a Ni-class destroyer and a Ne-class heavy cruiser- whom were busy engaging in combat with a moderately damaged Samidare. The fighters immediately adorned their targets with a storm of ammunition; as soon as they ceased, there appeared a great ball of belching flames that rose towards the air- one of many explosions that lit up the darkened sky.

Chaos, as far as the eye could see- as the ship girls continued to push back the growing abyssal forces that were advancing to the base. Aircraft belonging to both side streaked across the sky, leaving behind a trail of grey smoke; the blasts caused by some of the aircraft exploding helped to light the darkness. Kaga swiveled about as she raced towards Zuikaku, evading the shrapnel that fell from the sky.

"You?" Zuikaku jeered as Kaga appeared by her side. "What do you even want, I remembered hearing that you don't want anything to do with the Fifth CarDiv"

"Forget about what I said earlier. This is a battlefield, we need to put aside our differences for now and work cooperatively" Though despite that neutral look Kaga strained to put on, she desperately wanted to retort back to the overly confident carrier.

Zuikaku didn't answer, it was more likely that she ignored Kaga. She drew her bow and lets the arrow loose that immediately burst into three Zeroes.

Kaga growled as she too took a stance and drew her bow. However, before she could fire the arrow, there came a sudden shout that broke off her concentration.

"KAGA-SAN, ABOVE YOU!" Kaga glanced up in time to see a glimpse of an Abyssal bomber dropping its load on her.

Afterwards, there came another explosion, a big one, significantly bigger than the rest.

The warm water washed over Kaga's body as she found herself staring up at the smoke-hidden sky. Her eyes were wide open, staring at the shells that sang through the air and the planes that streaked across the sky. Kaga tried not to wince as she felt pain course through her still body. She felt herself slowly sinking into the deep blue; this was it, this was her fate, and she accepted it.

As she was about to close her eyes, she spotted something black and feathery from the corners of her eyes, avoiding the flying ammunitions. She dismissed it as something unimportant; maybe the smoke was affecting her brain?

"Hey, wake up" Kaga heard a sharp voice in the darkness. She felt something sharp poking her right cheek.

Kaga's eyes flickered opened and she found herself staring straight at a black avian, which unusually had a single eye, emitting a crimson glow. The bird puffed out its chest opened its beak, only to give out a tiny squawk.

"Oh, hey little bird, I thought for sure I heard someone-"

"It was me" The voice spoke. It took a moment for Kaga to realize that the voice was owned by the bird.

"Who are you?" Kaga asked, lifting her head to get a clearer look. "And how the hell can you talk?"

"I have no time to answer your questions, fifth" The bird replied. The bird turned its head away from Kaga for a couple of seconds and hopped away. It soon returned with a strange black berry dangling from its beak. "Here eat this, it will make you feel better"

Kaga took no time taking the berry and devouring it as she wanted to get back in the battle. As she swallowed the juices, she felt the pain easing immediately. She slowly rose, almost tumbling down as she got to her feet.

"Good, good" the bird snickered. "This will be fun..." Kaga's golden eyes shifted into crimson ones, and her lips contorted into a smile.

"Now go and obliterate everything in this dissonance you call 'home'"

The 'new' Kaga smiled. "Obliterate...everything..."

* * *

 **Moving Shadows-PART 3**

 **Destiny/Fubuki**

Destiny stared at the flashes of light and at the massive haze of smoke that appeared on the horizon. She stood silently on top of a cliff's edge that overlooked the coast, which was completely overrun by numerous people donning work clothes the would fit a mechanic; many carried strange metal objects that resembled the guns of a warship, whilst some carried huge wooden boxes. Destiny could vaguely remember Mutsu's words earlier:

"Though it may look like the entire world has yet to know about our existence, there are already some who have. These are people are called 'Workers', they've been forced by the government to stay here as they've accidentally or deliberately learned about us. To gain freedom, they have to work, whether to fix our equipment or just garden work, anything will probably give them their freedom. But some found this place a very nice place to live and decided to stay here and start families"

Destiny sighed as she leaned against a rotting tree trunk. She needed to locate Shade and fast, however, she didn't really know where to begin. What if the bird was over there, witnessing the battle? It was a possibility, but even if Shade was over there, Destiny didn't have any means of transport and it looked impossible to swim that far into the ocean- unless floating was a valid option.

This was beginning to look like a game of hide-and-seek, and one thing for sure, Destiny wasn't interested in playing.

"Destiny-chan, you need to go back, it's not safe here" Destiny heard Fubuki's voice from behind her as the latter came to join her.

Destiny's response was complete silence. She continued to gaze at the discord with much interest. Thoughts swirled about inside her head, thoughts about Shade's whereabouts. They came and went, replaced by new ones by every few seconds.

And as for Fubuki, she stood by and waited for Destiny to finish whatever she may have been doing.

"Is it...always busy?" All that came out from Destiny's mouth was more like a tiny whisper, but fortunately, Fubuki managed to barely hear her.

"...Yes" Fubuki answered. "It always has been, ever since..."

She immediately shut her mouth to avoid blabbing out more about the great tragedy that befell the naval- no, _the entire country_. That was another story to tell for later, one that would take long to explain.

Thankfully, Destiny barely heard Fubuki speak, due to the noises below. Destiny continued to mull over ideas of how she could get to the battlefield, finally agreeing that Shade could be over there.

 _'I would probably need a boat...boat, ship...'_ Destiny glanced at Fubuki. The ship girl in question noticed this and gave a tiny wave to Destiny. Destiny waved back. _'Ship girl...'_

An idea suddenly struck her head. It was a stupid idea, but it would do for now.

"Um, Fubuki, I was kinda wondering how much people can you carry at a time?"

Fubuki blinked in response. "Excuse me?"

"Just...a question" Destiny answered as she averted her gaze towards the ashen horizon. "A pretty...normal question"

"Well, I can carry two to four people minimum..." Fubuki replied as a light shade of red taking over her face. "But why would you ask that question?"

Destiny's lips made a slight curve. "No reason at all" But in truth, there really was a reason behind it. "But, um...what if I asked you to carry me to...over there?"

Destiny pointed towards the rising cloud of smoke and ash. Fubuki appeared puzzled for a couple of seconds as she tried to understand what the child meant until suddenly, realization struck her mind.

"Oh no...I'm not gonna..."

/

Fubuki knew it was wrong, very wrong. But she found herself carrying a little girl barely half her size across the warm waters of the Philippine Sea towards the one place she was supposed to keep the little girl safe from.

Destiny had her arms wrapped around Fubuki's neck as she rode on top of the destroyer's back. She was quite glad that she managed to convince Fubuki, and even more glad that the ship girl was considerably fast.

An hour of silence between the two passed by as the huge cloud of smoke that hung in the air seemingly grew even larger than seconds ago.

And soon, the noises of the ongoing assault, of the large booming guns that brought forth fire and ash into the midday sky, and of the roaring engines of the miniature aircrafts that streaked across the misty air, filled their hearing. They were nearing their destination.

"We're close, I really hope what you're looking for is actually over there" Fubuki announced.

"I hope so too..." Destiny murmured.

Suddenly, an enormous wave of water struck them from behind and almost swept Fubuki off her feet. Soon after, projectiles flew high above them and erupted into towering pillars of water just a few meters in front the duo. Fubuki felt a presence or more from underneath them, just barely designating on her radar. With her muscles tense and her mind clear of any thoughts, Fubuki raised her hand-held turrets as the water around them started to foam up.

Three abyssal destroyers- two I-classes and one Ro-class- rose from the depths, surrounding the two in a semicircle. All three opened their mouths, revealing their single-barreled turrets that were lodged down their throats. And then they just sat there, immobile, as the seawater was cleared from the barrels.

Destiny raised her head to see what was going on as she heard something flying past above them and something exploding nearby. She soon realized that Fubuki had come to a complete stop. She spun her head around and what she didn't expect to see were three distortions in the water that sent chills down her spine.

Fubuki opened her mouth to say something to Destiny, but then quickly decides against it and grudgingly begun to slowly back away.

 _'I'm sorry Destiny if you start to feel seasick from what I'm about to do next'_ Fubuki aims at the water and shoots. A gargantuan splash of seawater was formed, hindering the abyssal's view and gave Fubuki enough time to speed out of there.

Meanwhile, a familiar bird with a single crimson eye observed from the sky. The bird couldn't help but snigger as it knew what kind of fate that would befall the duo, "oh how fun this world is".

* * *

 **Yuudachi**

"More of them are coming!" The words of a familiar eyepatch-wearing chunnibyou were barely audible over the thunderous noises of the ensuing chaos.

Yuudachi had just arrived to aid the 1st and 4th fleet, along with the rest of the 2nd fleet, and then she was immediately thrown into the chaos. She didn't mind anyway, after all, she was itching to see how powerful she had gotten after recently getting her kai ni upgrade.

The ship girls scattered as the two light carriers of the 2nd fleet- Hiyou and Junyou- began summoning their planes. They rolled their scrolls open as an illuminating purplish-bluish fire danced on top of their fingertips. Upon doing this, six origami-structured planes appeared on top of aircraft-shaped symbols embedded into the scroll; they began to roll down the parchment, slowly beginning to shift into a real plane. In the process of the summoning, Fairy pilots- one for each plane- appeared in the planes' cockpits.

"Now my beautiful babies~ hurry and show mama Junyou what'chu guys are made of~" Junyou cried in a drunken manner as her fully converted planes reach the end of her scroll and flew off towards the skies.

The six planes joined in with Hiyou's summoned ones, which now makes it a total of twelve. The large squadron swooped down as they immediately spotted their victim- a light cruiser Ho-class.

four of the aircraft broke off from the rest- two fighters and two torpedo bombers- and flew straight towards the Ho-class.

"Oh man, they're waaay too slow" Yuudachi diverted her attention from the planes and to Shimakaze, who boosted away from behind her, something the latter had anticipated.

Three little robots were close behind, making a clangor of noises created from the two metal barrels sticking out from their heads banging in each movement they made. They all were being carried by grey lifebuoys, the largest one having a different colored ring with Shimakaze's name in hiragana imprinted on it.

Shimakaze set her target on a moderately damaged Ri-class heavy cruiser. The abyssal had their guns trained at Kirishima, who was somewhat motionless- down on her knees with her arms supporting her.

As the Ri-class was prepared to fire, it was suddenly met with a barrage of shells, sent by the three robots.

"This fight is getting crazy, poi..." Yuudachi then hears a roar from behind her. She swept around and saw two Ro-class proceeding towards her.

Yuudachi grimaced as she fired a salvo of torpedoes towards the two Ro-class. However, before the torpedoes could reach the two Ro-class, one of them suddenly went flying out of the water and went airborne. A small explosion emerged from behind the single Ro-class as it opened its shark-like jaws and revealed the single barrel that protruded from its throat.

The Ro-class fired, sending a shell flying towards Yuudachi and propelled back into the ocean with an enormous crash. Yuudachi managed to evade the shell; however, it made contact with a Chi-class that was behind her that was preparing to fire as well. The blast pushed her back forcefully and she found herself stumbling face first down to the water.

"Yuudachi!" Yuudachi heard a voice cry out her name. Joining her was her sister, Shigure, whom was heavily damaged- clothes torn, and tattered, and soaked with blood. Deep gashes ran along her flesh with blood streaming out from it and trickled down her pale skin.

"Please don't sink, poi"Yuudachi warned, getting back up effortlessly. "Who knows how those two sisters might react"

Shigure gave out a small chuckle. "Don't worry, I'll survive"

They both set their eyes on a Ru-class that was quickly approaching them. The abyssal battleship was flanked by four destroyers- two of them were emitting a dark red glow. With a grunt, Shigure lifted her 12.7 cm twin gun cannons. "Well then, can you cover for me, Yuudachi?"

The Duo jumped slightly as they heard nearby guns firing. A barrage of shells rained down at the little fleet, penetrating their armor and punching right through their flesh. One of the destroyers gave a shrill shriek, then an explosion soon followed. Both girls shielded their face from the light and overbearing heat, as the blast sent waves in their direction that pushed them back a few steps. Smoke enveloped the abyssals and obstructed them from nearby eyes.

Now there was silence,

However, the silence didn't last even for a second as the guns and aircraft immediately filed the silent skies once more. Yuudachi peeked from under her arms. She saw the smoke part ways, unveiling one heavily damaged Ru-class, and four limp bodies of abyssal destroyers that were gradually sinking into the depths. The Ru-class had one of its hand grasping its hip as a wound had developed there and had begun to bleed; A greenish-bluish liquid ran down its side and fell into the ocean, staining its dark blue. The barrels that emerged from the rock-like implement that served as the battleship's 'main batteries' were twisted and broken, and half of its secondary guns were immobilized.

Yuudachi flinched as she saw anger flash in the abyssal's eyes. "We have to finish it off" Yuudachi heard Shigure spoke from behind her.

Yuudachi fired her guns with no hesitation. The Ru-class was rapidly engulfed by smoke and flames, having been unable to evade the shots. Feeling satisfied, she raised her guns near her mouth and blew off the smoke that emanated from the barrels.

Shigure sailed up beside her and gave Yuudachi a curt nod. "Good job, I guess"

"Oi you two!" Zuikaku advanced towards them from behind. "Have you seen Kaga?!"

Zuikaku didn't look any better than the rest of them. The shortened miko uniform she wore was torn apart with a massive rip near her chest, you could just about to see the small swell she sometimes mentioned as her 'blossoming buds'. Her muneate was chipped and looked like it was about fall off at any moment. Gunpowder and ash became enmeshed with raw flesh from opened wounds and blood blotched her dirtied skin, draining itself from said wounds and fell to the sea.

"Eh? You didn't hear from the radio? She just-" Shigure quickly shoved her hand against Yuudachi's mouth to prevent any more unwanted words to be accidentally blurbed out.

Shigure flashed Zuikaku an uncomfortable smile, as Yuudachi flailed about, struggling to rip out the hand that closed her face and restricted her breathing. "We..haven't seen her..."

Zuikaku was about to speak, noticing how strange the way Shigure was speaking but the noise of what she assumed a someone- presumably a ship girl- firing their cannons from somewhere not far away prevented her to.

"Night is approaching fast! And you know what that means right Jintsuu!?" A figure cladding orange-reddish clothes and brown hair styled into twintails blitzed into the scene, followed by another figure that wore almost identical clothing.

The second figure sighed. "Night battle, onee-san?" The first figure's eyes sparkled in delight.

"Correct! and once night battle commences, I'm gonna blow all these losers out of the water!" The first figure cried.

She lazily moved to the side to dodge an incoming torpedo. The turrets attached to her arm guard began to move slowly and stopped as soon as it was directed towards an approaching Ha-class. As the figure was about to fire, Yuudachi noticed that the second figure had disappeared.

"Hey" The second figure unexpectedly appeared beside Zuikaku. Said carrier jumped back in fright and would have fallen onto the sea if Shigure wasn't prepared to seize her. Oh! I apologize for that, I've been trying to get your attention, but all of you have been concentrating on my sister"

Zuikaku gave a sheepish smile. "Oh...sorry..erm..what was it that you wanted...Jintsuu-san?"

"I heard that you wanted to know where Kaga is, I may be able to help"

This got Zuikaku's full attention. "Really? Where?!"

"W-wow...you must really like Kaga-san, huh?" Jintsuu gave an awkward chuckle. "One would think you would _love_ her"

Zuikaku's face turned immediately red. Yuudachi, and Shigure laughed at the sudden response and laughed even harder as they could barely discern the difference between a tomato and Zuikaku's face. Jintsuu didn't join, even if she wanted to. It wasn't because of how rude it would appear, or anything, it was just going to be difficult to answer Zuikaku's question after a hearty moment like that.

Poor Zuikaku who was the subject of their laughter, turned away in attempts to hide her colored face and crossed her arms. "S-shut up, It's not like that!" This made the two laugh harder than ever before. "Grr...I'm surrounded by idiots"

Yuudachi wiped a tear leaking from the corner of her eye as her laughter came to a cease. "Sorry, Zuikaku-san" The latter looked at Jintsuu. "So where's Kaga-san now, Jintsuu-san?"

Zuikaku glanced at Jintsuu. "Yeah, where is she?"

Jintsuu struggled to say the answer. "Um...er...she..." She hurriedly lowered her head in a bow. "She sunk, I'm sorry!"

Silence came upon them once more.

Yuudachi and Shigure looked down sadly, unable to gaze longer at Zuikaku.

Jintsuu was still in a bowing position, finding the temptation to look up at Zuikaku to be quite impossible.

Sendai was still off fighting abyssals.

And Zuikaku, well-

Had not heard what Jintsuu had said.

She instead, was looking up at the sky, expecting something to come from all the smoke.

Yuudachi noticed this and decided to speak up. "Um...did you hear...po...i?" She followed Zuikaku's line of sight and saw a fighter burst out of the smoke.

The fighter looked different, however. The plane was entirely black, the symbols of the rising sun replaced by another symbol that they could not recognize. Yuudachi was sure that this aircraft belonged to a carrier that was on their side as she knew that the abyssals never owned any aircraft that looked and shaped, well, _normally._ What they owned were freakish, abnormalities with teeth and eyes.

Yuudachi pointed to the lone plane."That's definitely ours...right?"

Zuikaku wasn't sure as well. "Could be ours, but..."

Sendai, who had taken care of the many abyssals that made attempts of proceeding towards the small group of rough-looking ship girls, somewhat limping towards them. "What are you guys looking at?". Sendai peered up into the sky, deciding to follow what everyone was doing."

"Eh? its just a plane, why are you guys-" She immediately clamped her mouth shut and her eyes widened. She reached out for her sister and gripped her shoulders. "Jintsuu, we need to get out of here, now..." She spoke slowly.

"Why?"

"My scouts have detected a huge squadron of planes looking like the one over there approaching us- fast" Sendai explained. "And they're definitely not on our side"

Yuudachi overheard their conversation and decided to join in. "So they're on the abyssal's side?"

Sendai's brow furrowed. "I'm getting more...". Then a shocked expression took form on her features. "...Shit"

"What is it, what did you're scouts say?" Yuudachi asked.

"It's attacking us and the abyssals, it's on neither side...". Sendai's information served to be right as the plane instantly open fire.

Yuudachi moved out of the way, as did Shigure and Zuikaku. Only Sendai was the unlucky one, taking the little time to push Jintsuu out of the crossfire. The bullets tore through her left arm with ease, completely ripping it off from the shoulder up. The shaken light cruiser watched as her very own arm hung in the air then quickly plunged to the ocean.

The four ship girls watched in horror as Sendai dropped to her knees, clutching onto her severed flesh and muscles and let out an anguished scream.

"Sendai!" Jintsuu immediately ran over to her sister. "Hold on sis, we'll get you back to the base!"

Sendai proceeded to cough out blood. "I'm...alright...it's just a scratch"

Yuudachi gritted her teeth and aimed her guns at the plane as it was about to return back to the smoke. "This is for Sendai, Poi!". she shoots, taking out one of the plane's wings. The aircraft started to fly unsteadily, smoke trailing behind it, before descending to the watery depths.

"We need to get out of here, now" Shigure said. "Sendai's heavily injured, Zuikaku's out of planes, and I've run out of ammo"

"I'll provide cover fire" Yuudachi replied.

Jintsuu moved towards Yuudachi, her left arm wrapped around Sendai's waist to support her. Suddenly, she came to halt.

"...Jintsuu_?" Shigure spoke for a second, but stopped as a single signature got recorded in her radar.

A second later, they heard something rumble for beneath them.


End file.
